out of 5 polls, mitt romney and paul ryan lead. have you big poll numbers in florida and virginia, showing people in just a second. abc and cbs admits the ticket is gaining ground, post debate. nbc, no, not much of an impact at ms-nbc. >> florida, ohio and virginia, battleground states. what we see on the screen, a tight, tight, dead heat in florida and in virginia. in ohio, you still see the president hanging on to a lead. i guess you could say that romney has the trend line, but ohio is still a problem. >> another factor in all three of these polls, over 90% said the debate made no difference. 6, 7 and 7% respectively who said the debates mattered to their vote. that is, not as helpful to romney as he might have hoped. >> the debate has not as much of an impact. >> sean: i was thinking that if joe biden loses and 25 day, i am thinking that nbc news -- it's a perfect place for an unhinged, over-the-top, extreme leftist. he would be perfect over there. >> chuck todd, the political director of nbc news labeled the rasmussen poll, quote/unquote flop. he got it wrong. what is flop is

about haven't changed. >>> numerous polls have changed, though. they show a clear surge for mitt romney nationally and critical swing states. in a separate issue the bad debate performance was he was quote, too polite. that is your 5@5:00. >> the wait suspect finally over and tonight is the night for the vice presidential debate between joe biden and paul ryan. this is one so many of us have been looking forward to. this shows romney ryan surge after the first presidential debate is taking place. peter doocy is live with more on this. >>> you are right. the romney ryan ticket road the debate performance to the lead in the latest fox news poll of likely voters. before the debate the massachusetts governor and current wisconsin congressman trailed the president and vice president 43-48. they were down 5. now they are up one. the lead is even larger with critical independent voters. romney ryan were down 4 to romney biden but now they were up 12 with 44 percent with democratic side 32 percent. another key number are the voters were unsure they want somebody else. that number shot up

race upside down. owl poll among likely voters say the romney ticket went from a one-point deficit to a large legaled. take a look at this. among independent voters there was a huge shift away from the president that is a big concern for him this close to the election. the other thing to consider tonight the moderator. these are the four moderators for this series of debates. jim laier did the debate. many people say he lost control of the debate. it upped the pressure on martha she is the moderator tonight. >> doug lousader in washington, thank you. >> now to the attack on our consulate in libya. yesterday an intense day on capitol hill lawmakers trying to get to the bottom of what happened. there have been many questions raised following the obama's administration about him. >> they called the attack a spontaneous act sparked by outrage by the anti muslim film trailer to come out and say it was an act of terrorism. >> law americas getting tough demanding answers on the lack of security in benghazi at the time of the attacks. listen to what happened. >> i told them that was my per

mitt romney's poll numbers because of mitt romney's poll numbers. >> up next, a republican with a different view of thou fix america's fiscal mess. david stockman served in the reagan administration but he's not talking tax cuts, quite the opposite. larry kudlow will take him on. we count you down to the vice presidential debate in danville, kentucky. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help people and businesses who were affected, and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy -- and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. we've shared what we've learned with governments and across the industry so we can all produce energy more safely. i want you to know, there's another commitment bp takes just as seriously: our commitment to america. bp supports nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs in communities across the country. we hired three thousand people just last year. bp invests more in america t

poll coming out tomorrow that puts romney ahead. i got no idea. you tell us, where does this race stand right now? >> it's a little complicated, but keep in mind how the trackers work. when they add a new day of interviews, they drop the oldest day. when you see obama gaining now, that means that obama's interviews yesterday were even better than those from seven days ago, conducted before the debate. similarly when you look at the three-day approval number and you see that it's gone up, that means that obama's interviews yesterday were much better than the ones conducted three days ago, which was immediately after the debate. i think what the gallup numbers tell us is romney had a really good couple of days after the debate, but since then their numbers show obama doing better. it's too early to tell whether that's noise or not but consistent with data we see. it's consistent with the poll that shows romney doing well over a long early time period that includes the days after the debate went well. it's consistent with state numbers that show bahama doing pretty well in the last t

leaning towards romney. what do you make of that? >> i don't talk about other polls, but we're still polling in the states that we had planned on polling all along and virginia and florida are those states. >> and you'll keep on going. >> we expect to keep on going, yes. >> peter brown, thank you so much for joining us today. >>> may the force be with you. time now for the polysci war. here's what he told the young turks. he's very wise, he has sort of a process between ob-wan and yoda. i have to go with the sir alec guinness character. we've seen a bunch of big birds showing up at mitt romney campaign events since the character was brought up at last week's presidential debate. you'll probably be seeing more of themes specially on halloween. a popular costume. this sassy big bird costume is a top seller this year. costume craze saw a 500% increase in sales after the debate. their original big bird costume was already sold out. just dial this toll free number for information about the deadly meningitis outbreak or for a good time evidently. rick scott accidently promoted an adult sex

showdown just hours away. a new poll today shows mitt romney makes gains in three key swing states. romney flips the script in virginia, now leading by one point. the fight for florida is a statistical dead heat. and romney has narrowed the gap this ohio, although the buckeye state, what every republican needs to win the white house, is still solidly in obama's corner. >> this is the conversation we were having before both conventions. so almost as everything has been erased. >> i think it accounts for the hemorrhaging that they let romney back in. >> joining me now is ed schultz host of the ed show. and let's start with this. congressman ryan as well as the chairman both trying to set the stage for tonight. let's listen. >> joe biden's been on will stage many times before. this is my first time. so, sure, it's a nervous situation. because joe biden is one of the most experienced debaters we have in modern politics. >> this is miss firhis first ti. joe biden's been doing this since the 1800s. he'll do a solid job. >> so when you listen to this, the base was pretty upset last night. you wer

yesterday. new polls suggest democratic freakout may be premature. while mitt romney clearly did some damage, but the swing state polls -- which chris you have been saying the national they have been kind of the same all along. the swing state polls still show obama with advantage in key states. most importantly ohio. let's see obama winning ohio -- this is important -- obama winning ohioans who have already cast their ballot by 63%. virginia, cbs "new york times" found obama gaining on mitt romney. and then "new york times" put wisconsin at 50-47. >> okay. >> stephanie: so anyway -- but that's all i'm saying. >> jacki schechner just tweeted something interesting. cnn polled 381 people. in what universe is that a reliable source of anything. >> stephanie: yeah, they put that up this morning. >> 381 people? >> and one was a democrat. >> stephanie: yeah and all of the other ones show what a 20-point bump. >> here we go. >> this benghazi issue would be a tragedy in and of itself but unfortunately it's indicative of a bigger problem, and that's the unravelling of the obama foreign policy. >> wit

gap. and president obama is flyi to florida after playing down romney's rise in the polls and his own poor debate performance. >> governor romney had a good night. i had a bad night. -- >> how bad in its not the first time i've had a bad night. >> and overseas, holding out hope for the school girl now being called an icon of pakistan. we'll get a live report on malala's condition. good day. i'm andrea mitchell live at center college in danville, kentucky. ahead of an -- here we've got a great crowd here already. already for tonight's crucial debate, the vice presidential debate in a presidential campaign that has a razor-thin edge. joining me now is chris cillizza, msnbc contributor and managing editor of post politics.com and chuck todd, nbc's chief white house correspondent, political director and host of "the daily rundown." >> abe lincoln behind you. >> let me go to chris cillizza first. >> sure. >> back in washington, talk about the stake as head. what are the two burdens, if you will for the two candidates tonight? >> well, look, i mean i think it is relatively obvious that

. >> the poll numbers for romney and ryan soaring after the first presidential debate. democrats openly counting on joe biden tonight to stop that republican momentum. >> osama bin laden is dead and general motors is arrive. >> the 2012 vice presidential debate starts right now. >>> happy debate night, everybody. the best television series of 2011 was the republican primary debates. there were 1 million of them. they played to huge audiences week after week and never disappointed. now it is october 2012 and the most compelling thing on television anywhere in the country is once again the debates. only now there are only two candidates at a time and the stakes are way higher. i'm rachel maddow. here on our msnbc headquarters in new york. i'm joined by ed schultz, reverend al sharpton, chris hayes, steve schmidt. lawrence o'donnell is our man in the spin room tonight. the one and only chris matthews is at centre college in danville, kentucky, the site of tonight's debate. chris, is this unusually high stakes for a vice presidential debate? >> well, it's great being with you, again, rachel

latest poll numbers. we saw a nice little bump for the, for mitt romney as a result of that first presidential debate. >> that could be an issue tonight. before the presidential debate, we were talking about a growing obama lead in wisconsin. a lead in virginia. decent obama lead in florida. a lead in new hampshire. those are all toss-up states. nevada, one of the toss-up states. romney had been doing better in the west, but still, a boost there. that's a dead heat. a statistical tie in nevada. over to colorado. i was there a little more than a week ago. a very close race. post debate, bang. a dead heat. statistical tie. quinnipiac "new york times" poll in "new york times." it's been reliablely blue. had been going the president's way. he's still on top, three points. again, another battleground put back into play by the first debate. here's one the romney campaign is encouraged, but they have work to do. they were down in some eight or nine points. now back to within five or six. cnn poll has it at four. clearly, still a lot of work for romney. let's keep going. virginia, we saw

and only debate. what do we expect from the obama/mitt romney rematch . the look at romney poll's surge. will the liar, liar strategy work? and congratulational hearing on libya shed new light on what happened in the attack on benghazi and raise new questions about the administration's response. welcome to the journal editorial report. i am paul gigot. all eyes were on the vice-presidential district attorney bait. the two spared over everything from iran and medicare reform and middle class taxes. >> the middle class got knocked on their heels and the great recession crushed them and they need help now. the last people who need help is 120,000 families for another 500 billion dollar tax cut over the next 10 years. >> there are not enough rich people and small businesses to tax to pay for the pending. next time you hear them say don't worry about. we'll get the wealthy people to pay their fair share watch out, the tax bill is coming to you. >> with us is dan, and collumist bill, and jason riley and washington columist kim strassel. >> he was doing what he was asked to do which is to ener

republican expectations for ryan to clobber biden are through the roof. in that pew poll, 78% of republicans believe ryan will do better in the debate, compared to 62% of democrats who say the same about joe biden. ryan has to defend both his record and mitt romney's, and in some cases, those two tasks midi verge. the bottom line for ryan, he has to prove he's ready to be president. that is tonight's most important test, and one that i think a lot of people miss when it comes to what a vp debate means. ryan's readiness, of course, on foreign policy, that's going to come up as well. tonight's 90-minute debate is divided between domestic and foreign policy, and moderator martha raddatz says she will alternate between the two in nine ten-minute segments. each segment will have a response followed by untimed discussion. libya will indeed come up tonight. speaking of libya, that was the subject of a heated congressional hearing yesterday that was one part spectacle and one part substance. the bottom line, no part of the hearing was good for the white house. two former security officer

, good news for mitt romney, poll out of florida shows he has an edge over president obama. a cnn orc international poll says paul ryan came out on top last night. we will have more on that coming up. >>> candidates maybe vying for popularity points, but this guy doesn't need more popularity, big bird. romney mentioned the character, orders for costumes have been surging all over the country. the retail price is between 40- $100 for big bird suit. store owners expect prices to rise because of the great demand. >>> when you shop for pet food you see all sorts of eye catching claims to pick one product over another. what do all natural or ultra premium mean. how do you know what is best for your breast friends? brian kuebler brings the scoop to make sure you get what you are paying for. >> reporter: alaina tried ten different dog foods for her dog, happy, she researched ingredients, searched labels to finds one that didn't upset his stomach. >> it was frustrating trying to figure out what the claims were actually trying to say. >> reporter: when it comes to pet food, fda and usda regula

a closer look at in the romney's recent poll surge and the obama's campaign response. will the liar-liar strategy work. and congressional hearings in libya shed new light on what happened before, after and during the attack in benghazi and raises new questions put administration's response. welcome to the journal editorial report. all eyes were on kentucky thursday height when vice president joe biden and paul ryan squared off on everything from reform to eye ran to middle class taxes. >> the middle class got knocked on their heels, the great recession crushed them, they need some help now. the last people who need help are 120,000 families for another, another $500 billion tax cut over the next ten years. >> there aren't enough rich people in small businesses to tax to pay for all their spending. and so the next time you hear them say don't worry about it, we will get a few wealthy people to pay their fair share, watchout, middle class, the tax bill is coming to you. >> joining the panel this week, wall street journal columnist and deputy editor, dan, and jason riley. >> he did ene

are definitely looking out for you. >> sean: mitt romney closes the gap and latest poll numbers fell. dick morris, ann coulter, the latest on romney's debate battle. >> just so everybody understands l critics slammed his performance. >> it's okay. >> no problem. >> tonight, setting the record straight. and an explosive details emerging about a campaign donor scandal that could and former un ambassador john bolton breaks down. >> the hope is not a strategy. we're 29 days from the election, hannity starts right here, right now. governor mitt romney's impressive performance at the presidential debate will go down in history as most decisive victory in history. and and there is a record-breaking 52 point margin, 72% think romney did a better job than president barack obama. and there is cause for polls as well, nationally and in battle ground states. begin with the latest survey. the governor now tied among registered voters and and three more days after the debate has to be counted. according to the pew research center poll, romney leads 49% to 45%. according to the brand new georg

romney from last week. but pollsters note this ohio poll include an 11-point voters for self-described democrats, higher than last week's five-point advantage. >> what's it say right here? i'm waiting for the ohio polls because that doesn't make sense. we'll talk to chuck about why they did it. as you noted and as chuck has noted, republicans are more energized about coming out. an 11-point spread doesn't make sense. let's talk about other polls. >> in florida where it was a one-point race before the debate, this morning it is still a one-point lead for obama, 48%-47%. it's virginia where the republican candidate is seeing some of his biggest gains. the two candidates now in a virtual tie. romney has edge add head of the president 48%-47%, a three-point reversal from a week ago. >>> and according to a "new york times"/cbs poll, mitt romney leads the president by one point in colorado. last month the president was up one point in that state. in virginia, president obama's lead from last month grew slightly. he's now up 51%-46%. and in wisconsin, the candidates are within the m

, there was this latest national pugh research poll. governor romney now holding a four point lead among likely voters who were surveyed after the debate. that is a big swing from mid september when president obama was ahead by eight. that was this afternoon, a short time ago, a poll running in the detroit free press shows the president's lead shrinking to just three points in michigan. mr. obama had a ten poernt lead there last month. mitt romney's running mate, paul ryan, is in michigan tonight addressing a rally at oakland university in the town of rochester just outside detroit. the question tonight, if the mood of voters is changing here, could it also be a sign that it's changing in ohio as well, another key battleground state. the poll in the free press and the pew poll not the only good news for the romney forces. they got a big boost as well in gallup's tracking poll which shows a 47-47 tie among likely voters contacted on the 4th through the 6th. in pre-debate polling, mr. obama, president obama, led by five. now, as for today's pew poll, the obama campaign takes issue with the

the polls, pew, romney's performance erases obama leed. >> my good conservative friend was telling me about the sinister conspiracy of the polls. that they were all rigged, giving the impression that the liberals are running away with the election. and all the sudden you have conservatives hijacking the polls and you have dispirited and liberals. the liberals were dispirited. there was a sense of real puzzlement, where was the president? why did he not show up? these are people who have been picking out their inaugural outfits. the romney people, prior to that debate were heading for the lifeboats. they thought it was over and they were going to concentrate on holding on to the house and may be winning the senate. it was transformational in that sense. in the political world, however, has not changed how people feel about mitt romney. they still feel he is out of touch and that remains a problem, even for charles. >> the columnist, neocon, he said monday was the day political polling died. [laughter] what do you think? >> i dunno about what to john was saying. but my view last week --

: the polls have been kinder governor romney since he won last week's first presidential debate. vice president biden will try to return some momentum to team obama tonight. ron christie and chris stirewalt, as i said, acacias savants on all things politics will be here. first, a look at the markets today and a lot happening. the dow jones down, the s&p squeezing a rational being, the s&p, down fractional point. the nasdaq hurt by a fall on shares of apple down 2% today. the market cap of apple dropping down to just under $589 billion. and they call themselves a corporate leader. crude oil is up. ninety-two dollars per barrel. bank stocks mostly higher today. earnings reports into the very biggest wells fargo and jpmorgan chase, going different directions, wells fargo stopped down, tomorrow, news on consumer confidence and producer prices. turning back to the campaign trail, vice president biden, congressman ryan, such a debate in just over an hour. congressman ryan looking to maintain the resounding victory of mitt romney from last week. joining me now is the former special assistant

comes out -- as polls show the race between romney and president obama are in a dead heat. >> a poll taken after last week's debate shows running getting a bounce in the polls. that same gallup poll shows that voters thought overwhelmingly romney won that debate, the biggest debate when ever recorded by gallup. republican presidential candidate mitt romney tipperary break -- took a rare break talking about the economy and slammed the policy in the middle east. >> it is clear the conflict is higher now than when the president took office. >> trying to seize on the president's handling of last month's attack in libya. >> i know the president hopes for a safer freer, and more prosperous middle east, allied with us. i share this hope. but hope is not a strategy. >> the candidate went to an impromptu third stop after 100 middle school kids waved at his motorcade. romney's numbers are up and they appeared to be tied. the president continued his california fund-raising swing which is expected to bring in $10 million over two days. the president attended a dedication to the cesar chavez nati

. poll after poll shows momentum building behind the romney/ryan tukt and there's pressure on the president now to wrap up his game for the three-week sprint to election day. let's bring in our correspondent, we're getting reaction to the vice presidential debate, more comments coming in. but the president has his mission cut out for him right now. dan? >> he really does. we just have to look back to right after the debate where the president turned up his volume, strongly aggressively going after his gop opponents. but what we saw this week at the university of miami on thursday at a big rally there was the president even turning up the volume a bit more. attacking mitt romney for what the president says was his changing position on a whole host of issues, including taxes. take a listen. >> he's trying to go through an extreme makeover. after running for more than a year in which he called himself severely conservative, mitt romney is trying to convince you that he was severely kidding. >> i was talking to a senior campaign official about the tone of the president's rally and thi

polls suggest that there's a clear advantage for romney from that first debate, but it's kind of stabilizing, where nonetheless, if ryan has a strong night tonight, congressman ryan, it will reinforce a storyline and amplification. that will be a problem for democrats. >> again, we're going to look at these pictures. this is air force 2 obviously preparing for the vice president to step down off the plane, and he will be heading to the debate site. talk a little bit about what's at stake here because often the vice presidential debates don't really make that much difference when you take a look at the overall picture, but you still have some people, especially after obama's kind of lackluster performance, who are undecided, who are actually looking at this and now you have mitt romney and obama neck and neck now. >> yeah. i think a lot of things change in that first presidential debate, which makes this -- which makes this somewhat more consequential than usual. as you point out, people don't usually vote for the vice president. the vice presidential debate is not a central facto

number. new polls have said romney is enjoying a post debate bounce. the average of national polls this week put him in the lead for the first time. with the run can candidate also gaining ground among key voting groups and in some important swing states. is the surge real and what can mitt romney do to sustain it? for answers we turn to republican pollster witt, ayer. a couple weeks back before the debate when the republicans thought it was over, you were saying, no, this race is a lot closer. where does it stand now? >> thank you, paul. that was a pretty easy call. [laughter] >> today if you look at the effect of the debate, it's pretty significant. i'm talking about the first presidential debate. >> right. >> in the eight polls that were released in the week immediately before the debate, obama had a lead of 3.6 percentage points on average. in the seven polls that had been released so far in the week after the debate, romney has an average lead of 1.3 percentage points. that's a net turnaround of about 5 percentage points, which is very significant in race this close. there are some

center poll, romney leads among likely voters -- get this -- 49% to 45%. according to the brand-new george washington politico poll, voter enthusiasm has shifted dramatically in romney's in favor. on top of that, the polls show romney is leading among independent voters by a staggering 16%. according to fox news polls, exit polls in 2008, obama won the independent vote by 8%. so that means that's a 24-point shift with 29 days before the election. all of this has sent the obama campaign into full crisis and panic mode. the president, his surrogates are sinking lower than they have before all in an effort to stop the romney surge. they're playing desperate. they want to paint governor romney has someone the america people should fear. their chicago-style politics are played out on a national stage because at the end of the day that's their only option. this is what happens when you are a desperate candidate who has failed his constituents for nearly four years. you're forced to call your opponent a liar pants on fire. >> plenty of people have pointed out what a liar mitt romney is and